Virtue Ethics
Central ethical question for the ancient Greeks--
What is the good life?
Aristotle's ethical theory--
- The good is that at which all things aim.
- All human beings aim at happiness.
- Therefore, the good life for human beings is the life of happiness.
- Happiness for human beings is not pleasure but is rather "activity
of the soul in accordance with virtue.
- Virtue consists of (1) moral virtue and (2) intellectual virtue.
- Moral virtue is generally a mean between an excess and a deficiency.
(For example, the moral virtue of courage is a mean between the excess
of rashness and the deficiency of cowardice.)
- We acquire moral virtue by practice--i.e., by acting virtuously (e.g.,
by acting courageously).
- Intellectual virtue is the "highest" virtue and consists
of philosophical
contemplation.